Would Fred Sanger get funded today?
In an era of large collaborations, multi-authored papers, and enormous datasets, is there still room for the single creative idea that proves to be a gamechanger?
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R&D investment fails to reach Europe 2020 targets
The UK and other European countries are underinvesting in research and development, according to a report from the European Commission.
Consolidator applications down by 31%
ERC has announced a decrease in proposals submitted to the 2014.
Thomson Reuters announces the world's most influential scientific minds 2014
New citation analyses reveal a who’s who of the most impactful scientific researchers.
With prizes like this, who needs a Nobel?
Five mathematicians, working in a field spurned by Stockholm and Oslo as a matter of course, will now receive $3 million awards of their own It started with a simple message from Internet billionaire Yuri Milner: let's meet up.
The age of invention isn't dead - it just needs time
The biggest thing holding invention back is our impatience. With enough time and support, young engineers will develop the technology we need.
Anne Glover wants greater voice for experts
Anne Glover says that better access to evidence helps policy-makers to make informed choices.
Norwegian P3
The Research Council of Norway has launched a new databank: an open, interactive tool enabling anyone to instantly customise statistical overviews of Research Council grants dating back to 1997. Soon in English.
Love in the lab
Romance often sparks between colleagues, and scientists are no different. Nature profiles four super-couples who have combined love and the lab.
Millions of NHS records sold to insurance firms
Millions of patient records were sold to insurance firms who used it to set their critical illness premiums in a series of 'unacceptable lapses', an independent review finds.
A boost for open access to research
The Research Council of Norway is introducing a new, five-year funding scheme that will cover a significant share of the costs incurred by research institutions for publication in open access journals.
How much did your university pay for your journals?
A new study shows universities pay more or less for academic journal bundles than would be expected based simply on size or number of Ph.D.s granted.
The inside track
Members of the US National Academy of Sciences have long enjoyed a privileged path to publication in PNAS. Meet the scientists who use it most heavily.
Eyeing EU research money despite referendum
For the EU commission, there is no legal way to restart science funding unless Switzerland extends freedom of movement to Croatia.
Asia university rankings update
Japan is still the number one nation but the balance of power is shifting as Beijing increases research funding
Let the light shine in
Scientists make much of the fact that their work is scrutinised anonymously by some of their peers before it is published. This "peer review" is supposed to spot mistakes and thus keep the whole process honest.
Uprooting researchers can drive them out of science
Making early-career scientists change institutions frequently is disruptive and — with modern technology — unnecessary.
The morbid fascination with the death of the humanities
Why professors, librarians, and politicians are shunning liberal arts in the name of STEM.
'DIY labs offer an agile alternative to university-based research'
'DIY labs offer an agile alternative to university-based research'
Free from bureaucracy, independent science labs offer a flexibility that can't be matched by universities, writes a researcher.
Publisher, be damned! From price gouging to the open road
Why has academic knowledge become more expensive for consumers while music has become less expensive, and what can we do about it? Doing nothing to prevent the trading of electronic copies of our academic work could act to circumvent the perils of engagement with the academic publishing industry.
Factsheet from Horizon 2020
Open access to publications and data in Horizon 2020: Frequently Asked Questions.
College degrees awarded per capita in the U.S.
There is incredibly intense competition for an academic faculty job even with such a small set of qualified candidates. After 23 years, the U.S. is producing twice as many Master’s degrees per capita than they used to.
Why metrics cannot measure research quality
Whilst metrics may capture some partial dimensions of research ‘impact’, they cannot be used as any kind of proxy for measuring research ‘quality’.
Real peer to peer review
The Winnower is another open access online science publishing platform that employs open post-publication peer review, aiming to revolutionize science by breaking down the barriers to scientific communication through cost-effective and transparent publishing for scientists.
EuroScientist webzine
Selection of a series of themes from the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2014.
The damaging bureaucracy of academic peer preview
Academic funding agencies should support research in unfashionable fields; a letter to David Cameron.
New efforts to maximize fairness in NIH peer-review
The NIH is working on multiple fronts to get to the bottom of unexplained racial disparities in R01 grant funding and to maximize fairness in NIH peer review.
NIH seeks $4.5 billion to try to crack the code of how brains function
A final version of NIH document presents an estimate of the money needed.
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